Justice League Original Movie Script Explained By Deffinition
Justice League’s production was marred with controversy. Originally planned as a two parter, the movie was severely changed after the poor reception of Batman V Superman. Over it’s troubled history tabloids were littered with rumors of rewrites, directorial replacements, and humungous reshoots.
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If you are a fan of Zack Snyder’s work, then like me you are clammering for an ultimate cut of the film. We have seen from the blu-ray release of Batman V Superman that these extended editions can vastly improve the film in quality and coherence. However, Justice League doesn’t seem to be taking this path and with poor profit margins on the movie, it seems unlikely that we will ever get one.
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That’s why I have compiled this video to discuss Snyder’s original vision so that your curiosity may be satisfied in terms of what we could have got. Make sure you subscribe to my channel and click the notification bell as I do videos like this all of the time and you won’t want to miss our in-depth look at comic books and film.
The Original Justice League Script
Unlike the theatrical release, the film didn’t open on terrible cellphone footage of the worst CGI blunder in movie history. WHAT IS THAT ON YOUR FACE!!! Instead Justice League: Part One as it was called began with Bruce’s long journey to find Aquaman. This opening was meant to be similar to Batman Begins and also sorts out the continuity error of Bruce fighting a criminal on the rooftop clean shaven and then having a full beard in the next scene.
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Bruce would then exposit the dialogue that we saw in the original teaser trailer.
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From here Bruce shaves on the plane and encounters a parademon upon reaching Gotham. Mirroring this Wonder Woman tackles the suicide bombers in London, however, unlike the theatrical cut she fails to stop a secondary explosion. Something that was also present in early trailers. Whilst there are no casualties she still harbours a lot of the blame and the film takes on a darker tone.
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Justice League Snyder Script Differences
We are then introduced to Barry Allen through his saving of Iris and Martha and Lois discuss Clark’s death at the farm before Martha announces that she is being evicted.
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From here we get a much more fleshed out origin story for Cyborg. We witness his life as a football star and the horrifying car crash that killed his mother and critically injured him.
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Shown in original trailers, the film then moves to Bruce and Diana discussing the rejection of Aquaman in the Batcave. At the Daily Planet Lois plays a much more vital role. She discovers how the Parademon kidnappings are related and Cyborg intercepts this knowledge, deciding what to do. We follow the character as he learns to fly and control his power. The metal man realises that he can control the entire nuclear arsenal of the world, however, he fears for his humanity and decides to swipe it away.
The original Steppenwolf design
The film then reverts back to the theatrical release with Steppenwolf stealing the first Mother Box from the Amazons. His design is similar to the one portrayed at the end of Batman V Superman however and he is much more intimidating. Upon attaining the Mother Box he delivers the following ‘no Lanterns, no Kryptonian’ speech that was too missing from the eventual release. He explains the unity and then makes his way to Atlantis.
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The Amazonians send warning to Diana and she rejoins Bruce to discuss Steppenwolf. She informs him of the first time Steppenwolf attacks the planet. This battle scene plays out similar to the theatrical release, however, Green Lantern, Zeus, and Aries all get lines and the characters play much more important parts than their cameo-like appearances in the film. Bruce seeks out Barry and Diana begins her quest to find Cyborg.
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In Atlantis, Steppenwolf attacks, this time however he is joined by Parademons which distract Aquaman and the villain is able to attain the box. Willem Dafoe, not Mera, discusses Steppenwolf with Aquaman and instils his duty to track down the box. Parademons stalk Cyborg in his home, kidnapping his father and the team assemble and venture into Gotham Harbour to take down Steppenwolf.
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Justice League Snyder Cut Dialogue Differences
The action scene plays out much the same, with extended dialogue and more conflict from Cyborg as he struggles to control his power. The battle ends at a stalemate but the team begin to assemble. As they discuss the pro’s and cons of bringing back Superman, Lois wakes up from a nightmare and reminisces over the good times that she had with Clark. A scene that was added to the opening montage song.
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Flashback to the Batcave and Bruce studies Superman’s costume as Cyborg discovers the origins of The Mother Box. Through virtual reality he is able to investigate it’s history at the hands of The Nazis in World War Two which slightly retcons the discovery of it in the deleted scenes of Wonder Woman.
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Writing the wrongs of his past, Silas Stone helps the team to infiltrate the Kryptonian ship and Cyborg thanks him for it. Superman is revived and the commencing battle that The Man Of Steel has with the remaining League devastates Heroes Park. Lois Lane, who is passing at the time hears this and runs to the confrontation to save Clark from killing Batman similar to how she did in the Martha scene of BVS. This is where we would also see Cyborg telling the police officers that they should probably move.
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Clark and Lois arrive at the farm and discuss their engagement. This scene was shown in trailers but cut down for the theatrical releases strict run time of two hours. We then join the League at the Batcave who discuss their defeat whilst Alfred humorously mocks them in his sarcastic British tone. This scene was extended and really fleshed out that Diana should be the leader of the League even if she disagrees with the position. Overall it would have built more comradery and gave motive to Batman’s suicide mission in the final act.
Deleted Superman Scenes
The League would then embark on their Journey to take down Steppenwolf and we would see a much grittier journey in which Batman arms up the other members. Aquaman’s conversation is less humorous and he mutters ‘honestly, I think we are all going to die’ which is replaced with ‘I don’t want to die’ in the final version. This was a lot longer scene in which Cyborg laid out the strategy and the team really bonded before they went into what could be their last day on Earth.
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Superman journeys to the ship for a suit, he retrieves his blue and red one and then goes to visit Alfred to discover the League’s plans. Batman blaming himself for Superman decides to become bait and as he heads off on his Suicide mission, the other leaguers dissuade and help him.
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The final battle plays out much in the same way that it does in the theatrical release, however, when separating the Mother Boxes, Cyborg gets a glimpse at the Knightmare vision that Batman had in BVS and also witnesses Darkseid. The battle scape also mirrors Apokolips and has a lot more of the hellish landscape that the planet possesses now on Earth. The team, of course, defeat Steppenwolf and decide to create a league.
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We get a much longer ending in which Barry gains a job at the crime lab and Mera travels to land to bring Aquaman back to Atlantis, where he belongs. Bruce awakens at night to be greeted by a Green Lantern, potentially played by Armie Hammer, he warns the dark knight of the coming of Darkseid and we end on a bittersweet note.
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Your Thoughts
So that is my piecing together of the original Snyder Justice League script. I’ve compiled this from various sources to try and depict as closely as I can what we would have got in the final cut. Of course with Warner Bros’ interference we never know if this would’ve been the complete vision of the original director but it’s fun to speculate.
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I’d love to hear your thoughts on the original Snyder cut so make sure you leave them below and be sure to add in any other rumours that you may have had or if there is an element that you think I got wrong.
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If you’d like to hear my thoughts on other films please check out my Veronica Ending Explained Interview linked on the final card. I also do a Watchmen Graphic Novel analysis podcast with my friend Tom Kwei which is definitely worth checking out for hardcore DC fans.
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Thanks again for checking out this video, please subscribe to my channel and I’ll see you next time. Take care, PEACE!
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